In addition to the clear advantages of video monitoring systems for securing monitoring regions and optionally for following suspicious objects, there is the requirement to secure the private environments of people in the regions being monitored. A masking module (4) for a monitoring system (1) is disclosed for the above, wherein the monitoring system (1) has at least one monitoring camera (2) designed and/or arranged for observing monitoring regions with moving objects (14, 16), comprising a selection device for selecting objects as selected objects (16), wherein the masking module (4) is designed to output the selected objects (16) or partial regions thereof subsequently together called selected objects (16) in a masked form, wherein the masking module (4) is designed to limit the masking of objects (16) to at least one selected physical partial region (15, 18) of the monitoring region.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A masking module ( 4 ) for a surveillance system ( 1 ) configured for observing surveillance regions containing moving objects ( 14 , 16 , comprising: at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ); a selection device for selecting objects as selected objects ( 16 ); and a model device ( 7 ) including a 3D model of a surveillance scene; wherein the masking module ( 4 ) limits the masking of objects ( 16 ) to at least one selected spacial subregion ( 15 , 18 ) of the surveillance region, and controls the at least one camera to output an image data stream in which the selected objects ( 16 ) or subregions are maintained in a masked form, wherein the spacial subregion ( 15 , 18 ) comprises at least one 3D object, wherein the at least one 3D object that forms the selected subregion ( 15 , 18 ) is selected from the 3D model, wherein the masking module ( 4 ), or a part thereof, is situated decentrally in the at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) to ensure that the at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) outputs only image data streams that contain masked objects, and wherein the masking module ( 4 ) protects privacy in the selected spacial subregions by rendering selected objects unrecognizable, unidentifiable or both using the masking.
2. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the selected subregion ( 15 , 18 ) is defined depending on the distance from the surveillance camera ( 2 ).
3. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 2 , wherein a depth chart device ( 6 ) includes a depth chart of the surveillance scene, and wherein the spacial subregion ( 15 , 18 ) is selected from the depth chart.
4. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 1 , wherein a masking device ( 8 ) masks all objects ( 14 , 16 ) in the observed surveillance region, or a subset thereof comprising only the selected objects ( 16 ).
5. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 4 , wherein a demasking device ( 9 ) removes the masking from all masked objects ( 14 , 16 ), a subset of the masked objects, or both from a complement ( 14 ) of the set of the selected objects ( 16 ).
6. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 5 , wherein the demasking device ( 9 ) identifies the objects ( 14 ) to be demasked on the basis of the object behavior.
7. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the masking module ( 4 ), the masking device ( 8 ) or both is designed to perform key-protected ( 10 ) encoding of the objects ( 16 ) to be masked in the stream of image data.
8. The masking module ( 4 ) according to claim 4 , wherein the key for the key-protected encoding is released only for the selected objects ( 16 ) or for a subset of the selected objects to be demasked.
9. A method comprising the steps of: masking moving objects in a video surveillance region using a masking module for a surveillance system for observing surveillance regions containing moving objects, the system comprising at least one surveillance camera a selection device for selecting objects as the selected objects and a model device including a 3D model of the surveillance scene, wherein the masking module is situated decentrally in the at least one surveillance camera outputs the selected objects or subregions thereof in a masked form and limits the masking of objects to at least one selected spacial subregion of the surveillance region; selecting the spacial subregion from the 3D model, wherein the spacial subregion comprises at least one 3D object; and outputting only the selected objects in the at least one selected spacial subregion in a masked form that renders the selected objects unrecognizable, unidentifiable or both in order to protect privacy in the selected spatial subregions.
10. A computer program product comprising program code means embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium for carrying out all steps of the method according to claim 9 when the program code means is run on a computer, the masking module ( 4 ) or both.
11. A surveillance system ( 1 ) configured for observing surveillance regions containing moving objects ( 14 , 16 ), comprising: at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) including a masking module ( 4 ) for implementing a task of protecting privacy in spacial subregions of the surveillance regions by rendering selected objects unrecognizable and/or unidentifiable using masking; and a device configured for communicating with the masking module ( 4 ) to enable selecting objects as the selected objects; wherein the masking module ( 4 ) includes a masking device ( 8 ) for masking and a model device ( 7 ) including a 3D model of a surveillance scene; wherein the masking module ( 4 ) limits the masking to at least one selected spacial subregion of the surveillance region that comprises at least one 3D object and, outputs the selected objects or subregions thereof in a masked form, wherein the at least one 3D object that forms the selected subregion ( 15 , 18 ) is selected from the 3D model, wherein the at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) outputs only image data streams that contain masked objects, and wherein the masking module ( 4 ), or a part thereof, is situated decentrally in the at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) to ensure that the at least one surveillance camera ( 2 ) outputs only image data streams that contain masked objects.
12. The surveillance system of claim 11 , wherein the masking module ( 4 ) further comprises a memory ( 10 ) and wherein only the image data streams that contain masked objects are stored in memory ( 10 ).
13. The surveillance system of claim 11 , wherein the masking module ( 4 ) further comprises a central unit ( 3 ) and wherein only the image data streams that contain masked objects are output to the central unit ( 3 ).
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
November 11, 2008
June 16, 2015
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